The lives and stories of Oregon State University

The annual Oregon Charitable Fund Drive at OSU ends on Friday, Jan. 31, and the number of donors and amount of donations has dropped since last year. In 2013, OSU employees contributed $102,327, which was a drop from the previous year’s tally of $113,393. Meanwhile, local non-profits say they’re continuing to do more with less.

As of Friday, Jan. 24, only 146 OSU employees had contributed to this year’s drive, with a total of $82,099. If each of the more than 4,500 employees at OSU donated just $5 per month, donations could total $270,000, more than doubling last year’s amount.

The participating umbrella groups represent more than 850 individual charities that serve low income communities, work to prevent child abuse, support research and education and help people living with disease, protect arts and arts education and many other worthy local and state causes.

Please go to the OSU Charitable Fund Drive website at http://oregonstate.edu/charitablefunddrive/ to view more information about the numerous charities, track the progress of our contributions, and make your pledge today.

Donations can be parceled out over a 12-month period and can be automatically deducted from your paycheck.